Newman and Jones are former Cowboys. Neither left the club on their own terms.

Dallas cut ties with Newman after he struggled down the stretch last season, his ninth with the team that drafted him fifth overall. In a conference call this week, Newman said the game is no big deal for him.

“Pretty much as every other game,” he said. “They come every Sunday.”

But Bengals president Mike Brown indicated Newman circled it on his calendar as soon as the schedule came out.

“He's played extremely well and we're glad to have him,” Brown said.

ESPNDallas.com quoted Brown as saying: “I said to him, ‘This is a big one for you,' and he said, ‘It's like your Cleveland game.' That's his way of telling me it's a big game.”

The intrastate rivalry between the Bengals and Browns is huge for Brown because Brown's father, Hall of Fame coach Paul Brown, was fired by then-Cleveland owner Art Modell, according to ESPNDallas.com.

Although injuries plagued him last season, Newman didn't make any excuses for his poor play, saying simply, “I didn't play the way I should have down the stretch.”

With that in mind, he said he wasn't surprised when the Cowboys cut him March 13.

What did catch Newman off guard is Jerry Jones wasn't around to say goodbye.

“I was a little disappointed I didn't get to see Jerry on my way out,” said Newman, 33. “But it is what it is.”

When the Cowboys (6-6) and the Bengals (7-5) take the field for warmups, the odds will be high Newman and Jones will finally have a face-to-face meeting.

“If it happens where we have some time out there, I'd love to say hello to him and see how he's doing,” said Newman, who has two interceptions and a team-high 11 passes defensed for the NFL's eighth-ranked defense.

Despite his disappointment at Jones' snub, Newman stressed he has no hard feelings toward the Cowboys and plans to make Dallas his home in retirement.

“A person can be bitter all they want, but it's not going to change anything,” Newman said. “I'm happy, playing pretty well, winning games, so that's my No. 1 focus. There's no reason for me to be bitter. It's months and months after the fact.”

Jones, who had a star-crossed, one-year stint for the Cowboys in 2008, told the Bengals' website he had “no bad blood” with his former team and even heaped praise on Jerry Jones. But he also made comments that revealed he'll play the game with a huge chip on his shoulder.

“... I don't care for them,” Jones, 29, told CincinnatiBengals.com. “I don't have nothing personal against them. I just have no love for the Cowboys.”

He saved his harshest words for former Cowboys coach Wade Phillips and his staff, which included then-offensive coordinator Jason Garrett, who replaced Phillips midway through the 2010 season.

“I was horrible in Dallas and the coaching was horrible, too — from the top down,” Jones said.

Dallas signed Jones after his one-year, NFL-imposed suspension in 2007 for violating the league's personal conduct policy. He played only nine games for the Cowboys, a stint that included another suspension for an alcohol-fueled dust-up with a member of his team-employed security detail.